travellings-arah

We travelled 4,000 islands to Hue and on to Hanoi last January and it was painful indeed. It entailed a boat from the island, a big bus to Pakse, some confusion about which bus station to take us to, a tuk tuk ride to the Northern bus station, a 4+ hour wait (whilst looking at the tiny, crammed, uncomfortable minibus that was to be our onward transport - despite the fact that the person we'd booked with said it was a big bus) and a very uncomfortable and frequently scary ride to the border. A 3 hour wait at the border and then a few hours drive in Vietnam. We then waited for about 6 hours and took the overnight train to Hanoi.

But having said all that, I don't regret it and now it's just 48 hours of my life that I look back on and laugh about. Ha ha ha.

By the way - you mention the Southern Bus Station. I'd looked here in advance of going to 4,000 islands and they certainly listed buses to Hue. We argued the toss when we were dumped at the Northern station (I called the guy who'd sold us the ticket) but was firmly told that they left from the Northern station. So it might be that you will get ferried from the South to the North station if you buy direct.